


Graphix Design (The Graphix Episode)

by lightmode



Category: Jem and the Holograms (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, Graphix's "French" was just for fun though, I did take some cues from the Jem Bible here for characterization, I hope you like it Bio, I've wanted to try my hand at "The Graphix Episode" for awhile, LLF Comment Project, Long Live Feedback Comment Project
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:20:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28333002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lightmode/pseuds/lightmode
Summary: When she finds herself eclipsed by The Holograms, a promising young concept designer named Graphix goes to The Misfits in order to strike back.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 2





	Graphix Design (The Graphix Episode)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TheBiophone](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBiophone/gifts).



> Beta'd by [hocus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hocus/pseuds/hocus)

"Of course it's huge, I'm huge now." Graphix said, flipping her hair back as she spoke into her giant brick of a phone as she browsed through a rack of high end jeans (despite how the person on the other end couldn't even see the gesture). "Make sure you pick up a copy. I'll probably buy out most of their stock and send it to everyone who was in our graduating class, in case any of them still had any doubt-" 

Graphix cut herself off as she made her way over to the magazine rack at the back of the store, a little crease between her eyebrows starting to form as she got closer. 

Prominently displayed at the very front was the new issue of  _ Music USA _ , with a bright pastel color scheme announcing Jem and the Holograms’ latest album. She grabbed the magazine off the shelf and glanced at the date, August 1987, in the top corner, then focused back on the cover. Her eyes roamed desperately before she caught the blurb "Designer Diva Snyder takes the music higher." (pg 23) shoved near the bottom. 

"What is the meaning of this?" Graphix's shrill voice echoed through the store, startling other customers who hurriedly looked away again at her expression.

She clutched the glossy cover so hard her acrylic nails pierced through. A nearby employee looked as if she wanted to say something about that, but decided like the rest of the onlookers that self preservation was the way to go and got back to sorting clothes. 

Graphix paged desperately through multiple two page layouts of the band to finally get to her interview, and found it didn't even take up half of page 23, her album cover designs squished unrecognizably small between the few paltry paragraphs about her work. 

"I take it you've seen it now," the voice on the phone replied, sounding disaffected. 

"You knew? Did it arrive already? Why didn't you say anything? They didn't even use my picture! Or mention my Graffiti. And they didn't even get my name right!" Graphix couldn't help the rant and paced back and forth as she complained, "Respect the nom duh plum!" 

The employee organizing clothes fumbled a hanger.

"You didn't let me get a word in edgewise or I would have," the tinny tired voice replied, not even reacting to Graphix's atrocious French. "It seems like the new Jem album dropped unexpectedly and so all the magazines were scrambling for an exclusive. It just happened to be the one with the feature on you that got the gig." 

"Who does this Jem person think she is?" Graphix fumed again, reignited. "Doesn't she understand how to promote? If you need a surprise drop to generate buzz you're a has been! A fake!" She made her way outside the MGRE with the magazine still in hand, but absolutely no one tried to stop her. "I did such good work on  _ Protoplasm _ that Phantom records had their first charting album EVER but just because it's an indie label I'm not as important to feature as Jem and the Follow-a-longs or whatever?" She was basically shouting into the receiver by this point, and her voice echoed through the mall. 

"I'll show those hacks, the next album I design and campaign will be so good it absolutely crushes them. Jem is going to be page 23 next time, if she even makes it into a magazine ever again." Not waiting for a reply, she hung up her phone and tossed it in her purse where it rattled against the multiple cans of spray paint she always carried. She glared again at the magazine before tossing it towards a trash can and strutting out, not noticing the eyes that followed her from under some oversized shades. 

* * *

"Eric." Pizzazz said, slamming both her hands palms down on his desk as she stared down at the record executive sitting in his high end desk chair. "I need you to hire us our own personal concept designer for our new release."

"A concept designer?" Eric's brow wrinkled. "Why would we need one of those?”

“Haven’t you seen the news?” Pizzazz’s eyes narrowed as she replied, “Jem’s new surprise album launch is everywhere! It’s all anyone is talking about.”

“I don’t see how that relates to-”

“You don’t see how we need something new and big to make an even bigger splash?” Pizzazz questioned, obviously irritated that he wasn’t following.

“I get you want to make your move soon Pizzazz, but I just don’t see what a concept designer has to do with getting your new release out sooner. If anything wouldn’t it slow the timeline down? We have designers-”

“We have art school interns…” Stormer said, cutting him off.

“They get the job done! Besides it’s not like you’re releasing a high concept-”

“Like you’d know high concept if it bit you in the-”

“Gumballs," Roxy interjected, rolling her eyes at Jetta. If there was anything they could come together on, it was that unmitigated disaster of a “concept video”.

“REGARDLESS,” Eric raised his voice and waved his hands to get their attention again, “we’re on a strict timeline to get this launch out and no one has time to find you a personal designer-”

“Oh, but I already found one.” Pizzazz motioned to the door and called out, “Hey Graphix~”

Eric watched as the door was flung open and a young blond woman dressed in a red leather mini-skirt and a riot of strange screen printed designs came to stand, hands on her hips, in front of his desk.

“Oh, no.” He couldn’t help but intone. 

“Graphix here's work has made nobodies into charting artists. And if she can do that for nobodies...” Pizzazz tossed a folder across the desk to Eric who opened it up to find some prints of album covers, and internal reports on sales numbers correlated to the design work. Graphix’s version of a resume.

“Plus she wants to help us beat Jem’s sales specifically,” Jetta said, and the new concept designer nodded at her in agreement before turning back to Eric.

“I'll show you how I can hype up The Misfit’s album so well Jem will be knocked right off the charts, just watch me," Graphix said confidently.

“They want surprises,” she thought to herself, “I'll give them  [ surprises ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffOhFRNVqC8) .”

* * *

“Well that’s a wrap,” Jem said, stretching her arms above her head to work out the ache in her shoulders. “I think we’re finally ready for the show.” It would be the first time they’d performed the new album set live.

“No matter how many times we do this I’m still always so nervous for live shows," Raya admitted, but smiled when Kimber looked over at her with concern. “I’m fine though, I know it’ll go well. I think it’s mostly just anticipation.”

“I’m the same way,” Shana said with her own grin, “But it all falls away as soon as I start to play. I think everyone probably gets a little nervous before a big show.” 

“Except me," said Aja, turning from where she was packing her guitar into its case to brag light heartedly.

“Except you,” Kimber rolled her eyes and gave her a good natured shove, “I know you borrowed my dark circle concealer, you never sleep well before a big concert.”

“Fake it till you make it, kid,” Aja replied and ruffled Kimber’s hair. "Don’t doubt my process.” Kimber grabbed at her hand but Aja pulled away and walked back over to the piano where she’d left her jacket. 

The phone on the wall began to ring.

“Hello,” Aja picked it up and spoke into the receiver. 

“Hello, Aja? Can I speak to Jerrica. We have a bit of a situation going on here.” Joanie’s Scottish accent sounded from the speaker and Aja motioned to Jem mouthing “She wants Jerrica”.

“Show’s Over Synergy,” Jem whispered, transformation melting away.

It may seem kind of silly to transform back just for a phone conversation but Jerrica found it was way easier to keep everything straight that way. Plus it didn’t create any confusion if someone walked into the practice room and heard what she was saying into the phone.

“Yes, oh Joanie? What is it?”

“Something’s happened and we need you here at Starlight Music,” the head receptionist replied. “Someone’s vandalized the building.”

It didn’t take them all long to pile into the roadster and get to where a crowd of Starlight Music workers had formed around the side of the building. 

“Is that-?” Kimber trailed off.

“Pizzazz?!” Jerrica shouted, staring up at the 9 foot tall depiction of the Holograms' oldest rivals, Pizzazz depicted unmistakably in front. The mural was a riot of bright colors with stark solid outlines and the words “Misfitz Blitz” emblazoned along the bottom. 

“We were just here last night, how did they even manage this?” Shana asked, tone half angry half amazed. 

“Jerrica!” Joanie yelled from the doorway and power walked over to where they had parked, “I’m sorry to call you in so early.”

“That’s alright, what happened here?” Jerrica motioned to the huge mural.

“It just appeared, and the security cameras got turned away from that spot so there's nothing on the tapes." 

“We need to take pictures and document it, then paint over this eyesore.” Aja crossed her arms and glared up at Pizzazz’s giant sneering face. “I can’t believe they think they’ll get away with this!”

“Joanie!" A nervous looking intern called out from the glass foyer. “Someone from the news station is on the phone, I don’t know what to say to them!”

She headed back to the building with the Holograms in tow, picking up the phone and greeting the caller. 

“What?” she asked suddenly. “An interview? I hardly think that’s appropriate given the...Yes I know about…that doesn’t mean we should-”

“What is it?” Jerrica asked, a nervous feeling building in her chest.

“Please hold,” Joanie said like the practiced service professional she was, clicking the hold button to banish the caller to an easy listening purgatory and give herself time to explain. “That, rather rude, gentleman on the phone is talking about wanting to do an interview about,” she motioned towards the window through which they could all see the crowd of people outside continuing to grow, “that.”

“They want to do a story about the vandalism?” Raya asked, “How did they even know about it?”

“Hmm,” Jerrica said, “Well, it’ll at least let me get the word out that this wasn’t authorized, Joanie give me the phone.”

Jerrica spoke at length into the receiver and Shana turned back towards the window with a frown, “I have a bad feeling about this.”

* * *

The Misfit’s recording studio was on the same floor as their personal lounge now, which was pretty convenient overall if an obvious downgrade from the penthouse suite they used to occupy. 

It did annoy Roxy a bit that their company had changed hands, even if she never really had much to do with the inner workings. It just came with some prestige to have your record label named after, well, YOU. She felt a sense of loss being signed under Stingers Sound now, relegated to the middle floor of the building. 

She made her way into the lounge and set her bag down, before catching sight of Graphix over the back of the sofa, sketching. She watched her for a while before asking, "So, what are you working on?" 

"Just, stuff. It isn't for the album. It's nothing." Graphix replied with a jump, fumbling her pencil in shock before slamming her sketchbook shut over the unicorn she'd been sketching. She then tried to act casual even as the pencil bounced across the floor and rolled its way under the tv stand.

"Oh, I just wanted to say it was... nice?" Roxy said, words mostly failing her. She really hadn't meant to startle Graphix, but she obviously had.

“It looked amazing,” she added, trying to be absolutely clear she wasn’t making fun. When she wanted to make fun of something, she had no problem doing it. Complimenting things was way harder.

"...Oh?" Graphix replied tentatively, then paused a second before adding, "If you want to see more later, maybe I'll bring in my personal sketchbook..." She twisted her fingers together nervously. 

"Yeah! Sure!" Roxy replied, finding herself actually enthused by the offer. 

"Great," Graphix replied, uncomfortable with the vulnerability getting caught sketching always made her feel, even if this time it had gone all right. 

“Turn it on, turn it on, it’s time!” Pizzazz interrupted the awkward atmosphere by running into the lounge and diving head first onto the sofa, rolling over to grab the remote and turn on the tv.

“-Appearing overnight.” The newscaster appeared on the screen mid-sentence. The Misfits gathered around the feed as Pizzazz adjusted the volume louder and Graphix decided to act casual, shaking off her nerves and making her way over to the café table and chair by the window to sit. She was also excited to see this play out after all. 

“We have the owner of Time-Out Donuts with us to tell us what happened.”

“I woke up and came out to see it, it’s gigantic. It must’ve been a lot of work,” a middle-aged man said into the microphone. The news feed cut suddenly to a huge spray painted mural.

“Wow it’s way bigger than I thought it’d be,” Roxy said, her eyes huge as she looked at the riot of color filling the screen.

“Go big or go home," Graphix replied, checking her nails like she was unconcerned, but also glancing over at them expectantly when she was sure no one was looking at her. 

“This is incredible! And it’s all over the city! Everyone will know about our upcoming release!” Pizzazz cackled and watched as the newscaster went over each location and a picture flashed up on the screen for each.

“But, won’t we get in trouble for this?” Stormer asked, uneasy.

“Just watch,” Graphix smirked, not nervous about that at all.

“Have the vandals been caught?” the newscaster asked, tilting the microphone back towards the store owner.

“Vandals? Artists more like!” The man said, cracking a smile. “It hasn’t been this lively around here in ages. I’d just want to shake their hands. They obviously have talent.”

“So you aren’t angry about this?”

"Not at all!"

“We did reach out to the band depicted, The Misfits, for comment. Their publicist said they have no idea what this is about but that fans of theirs may have gone overboard in excitement for their upcoming new release."

“I had my daughter play me some of their music in the store today, she loves it and so do the customers.” The man seemed genuinely happy about it all. 

“The other owners we’ve talked to so far said similar things.”

“Wow Graphix, I expected at least some of the yuppie business district to be up on us over it,” Jetta said, surprise evident in her voice.

“You’d be surprised what a little  _ incentive _ can do.” Graphix rubbed her fingers together in the universal symbol for “cash”.

The report segued back into the in studio interviewers who were all smiles as they discussed this among themselves.

“Strangely, nearly everyone we’ve contacted has been glowingly positive about the mysterious Graffiti on their buildings," one host said.

“Everyone seems to love it!”

“Well, almost everyone," the first host said, “We do have a clip from the head of Starlight Music that goes the opposite direction.”

A hush fell over the room as the Misfits waited with baited breath and Jerrica’s voice filled the room.

“No, I’ll give a statement but no interviews," her frazzled voice started. “This, this, abomination wasn’t authorized and we’ll be painting over it as soon as possible.” Pizzazz scoffed at the word choices but continued listening.

“Artwork not to your taste?” The reporter contacting her asked and Jerrica replied angrily.

“It’s not art, it’s vandalism. And if we find out who did it there will be charges laid. I need to go hire a painting crew so this conversation is over," the call cut abruptly.

“Wow, singing a much different tune than the other businesses in town.” One interviewer whistled.

"Starlight Music has always been a bit stuck in their ways, they seem pretty out of touch," the second one replied. 

Jetta laughed. “Oh wow, that really got under her skin, huh?”

“All according to plan.” Pizzazz stood up from the sofa. “Good job, I can’t believe we got this much promotion AND made Jerrica look bad all at the same time!” Pizzazz walked to the door and pulled it open then turned to Graphix again.

“Now you just have to finish that cover design and we’re off to the races. Don’t let me down.” The last words had a bit of an edge to them. Graphix started to sweat a little.

* * *

Graphix paced the lounge, wishing she’d kept her nails natural this week as she couldn’t really gnaw on her acrylics. You see, her well of inspiration… had kind of run dry. Eric didn’t want to use the same design as the murals for the cover, and the nerves from designing for her favorite band had pretty much wiped her creative brain. She picked up the receiver of the elegant though unwieldy rotary desk phone and dialed a number.

“Pick up, Pick up,” she whispered under her breath.

“Kinko's Copy and Print,” a bored voice replied. 

“Thank god you’re there,” Graphix said in an exaggerated tone.

“You know when I’m working. Are you on your way here?” the voice asked.

“No, I’m at work still. My phone battery is dead anyway. I have to use the  _ landline _ .” She dragged out the word like this was a fate worse than death.

“You realize for most people that’s just normal right?”

Graphix ignored the reply. “I’m so bored, and nothing is working. I’m going crazy trying to think of ideas for the cover. They won’t let me use the Graffiti designs because of liability or whatever.”

“That’s a given.” 

Graphix blew some hair out of her face and made an annoyed noise. “But I worked so hard on that. How do I come up with a whole new UNRELATED concept now?”

“Just sit down and think about it,” came the reply. “Sketch a little, you’ll figure it out.”

Graphix sighed, “Can’t you help me out?”

“I’m busy this week, family thing.”

“Seriously?” Graphix whined a little into the receiver. “Big help you are.”

“Come on, it’s your first big big job, I’m sure you’ll think of something. I have to go though, customers.” 

“Ugh, fine.” Graphix hung up the phone with a click and groaned. Then threw herself down on the sofa. She sat there feeling sorry for herself for an age before finally biting the bullet and pulling out her sketchbook. 

* * *

"I can't believe it," Jerrica said, massaging her temples as she sat back on the lobby benches.

As it turned out, hiring people to come paint over a mural in the mid august heat was a tall order. By the time they'd arranged it the news segment had aired.

“Next time I’m only saying “No Comment.” She groaned as she sunk down into her chair, absolutely drained.

“Still, it’s unbelievable protesters came,' Kimber replied as she became one with the sofa, lying face down on the cushions. “Not Outrageous," she grumbled.

“Outrageous in the wrong way,” Shana replied. 

The protesters had shown up as soon as the paint-over crew arrived, waving signs about free expression and artists' rights and blocking the workers from even getting to the building. 

"I can kind of understand their point, but this was obviously just illegal advertising," Raya said. "If they'd asked permission... well I still don't think we'd have let the Misfits paint on our building but-"

“I can't believe we have to keep it there," Jerrica groaned.

“Maybe we don't have to,” Aja stood up with sudden inspiration and walked to the window. It was dark outside, and the protestors had mostly dispersed.

"But even if we did do it now a lot of those people would be angry come morning," Jerrica reasoned. She'd definitely learned there was a pretty devoted street art fanbase in the area after that disastrous afternoon. They'd even passed around handmade pamphlets about the art form. 

"But what if we don't _ remove it _ ." Aja said, turning back towards her with a light in her eyes. "What if we just  _ change it _ ."

"Hey, that's a great idea," Raya said, "I don't think the protestors would be as mad about it if we paint something new there, rather than just blank it out." She waved the little pamphlet around. "there's a whole section on iteration in here..." She'd actually been getting really into the literature.

"But the crew already left, and they were only hired to go over it." Jerrica sounded defeated.

"But we don't need a _ real  _ crew for this!" Shana piped up with a smile. "Aren't you forgetting someone?" She tapped her own earlobe and raised an eyebrow when Jerrica looked over at her.

"Oh Right! How could I have forgotten!" Jerrica slapped herself in the forehead and called out, "Synergy, we need your help."

"I'm here, Jerrica," Synergy said, appearing before them easily as the lobby was deserted. 

"Ok Synergy, let's  [ Change It ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulPwG6wY9xA&list=PLjNvMXjX--BoQMTNMtVA0l4s2eCXArHIa) ."

* * *

"Where is Roxy?" Pizzazz asked. They'd been set up for ten minutes already in the studio. They didn't normally practice every day but they were still recording on the album, and there were a few songs they didn't have 100% done yet, so a jam session everyday was pretty necessary till they figured everything out.

It was getting close to their announced release date and all the hype was leading up to this. They had to have everything ready soon, and they were getting there. Just a few more tweaks and they'd be done... If Roxy would get her butt in gear and take things seriously. 

"I think I saw her earlier," Stormer said. "She might be in the lounge again."

"Losing track of time with Graphix," Jetta said, unimpressed. "That's what it was the last three times."

"If she isn't here in the next minute..."

"Hey!" Roxy said, rushing into the studio. "Sorry, lost track of time." Jetta rolled her eyes and mouthed "told you so."

"Roxy, if you're late one more time this week I'm hiring a freelancer," Pizzazz said, glaring.

"Ok ok, I'm sorry," Roxy said but she didn't sound as contrite as she probably could have. 

Pizzazz was starting to get annoyed. The feeling festered through their recording session, and even though they did finally get the song down pat, Pizzazz was still growing more and more annoyed. 

Stormer packed up her things and headed out early, as she had an appointment. Roxy and Jetta bantered a bit and Pizzazz leaned against the sill of the little studio window set into the wall, glancing over at Roxy as she pondered her own bad mood.

"So, Roxy," Pizzazz said, "How far along is Graphix with that Album cover?"

"Uh," Roxy said, unexpectedly on the spot, "I'm not sure. We haven't really talked about it."

"You haven't talked about it? What are you even talking about then?" Jetta rolled her eyes as she put her sax away.

"Uh stuff, things?" Roxy said, description not her forte. "She was telling me some stories about art school, and her friend-"

"She's supposed to be working while she's here," Pizzazz said, "same as you are." 

"I'm sure she's almost finished, why don't you ask her," Roxy replied, annoyed at Pizzazz's assertions that she and Graphix were slacking off. Sure, she'd been late a couple times, but only by minutes. And it wasn't like their whole band didn't goof off a lot of the time anyway. Pizzazz just got hyper focused when it came to one upping Jem sometimes.

"Why not," Pizzazz said and stormed her way over to the lounge. "Hey, Graphix!" Her tone wasn't really as playful as it used to be when she addressed the album designer.

It was so close to deadline day Graphix was sweating non-stop, and hearing her name suddenly called with that sort of tone set her heart rate skyrocketing. She turned to face Pizzazz and stood, "Yeah?" she replied.

"The deadline for production materials is in two days and you still haven't given me any updates," Pizzazz said, voice tight as she sat down behind the desk, folding her arms over her chest. "What have you got to show me for all this time?"

"Oh, well, I..." Graphix trailed off, stricken to be put on the spot so unexpectedly. Especially as she had been trying to give updates, but was told they were busy.

She really hadn't been slacking off, not more than a little. She'd worked out a few concepts, but was finally feeling confident with the latest one. The advice she had been given to just sketch had been pretty good, and Roxy seeing her work had actually helped build her confidence in it. She normally didn't work her fantasy concepts into her album designs, going for a more stark high contrast moody feel, as critics tended to like it, but now that was out of the question. Plus she actually did love the high fantasy concepts, she just hadn't realized she could apply them to this sort of work too... not after she'd been ridiculed over it in art school. Her professor really hadn't liked the dragons, so although she drew some she didn't lead with them.

That may have been a mistake.

Graphix dug a folder out of her bag and passed it over to Pizzazz, who opened it up and rifled through the first few pages.

"What is this?" 

"It's...the new designs," Graphix replied, the pit that had been forming in her stomach now threatening to swallow her whole.

"Why am I riding an ugly unicorn?" Pizzazz asked, angry verging on incredulous.

"Well it's, uh, the more traditional..." Graphix scrambled to explain the historical art references she'd been using but Pizzazz had already shut the folder.

"I hate it, do something else," Pizzazz ordered her.

"Something else?" Graphix asked, upset. "Like what?" 

"I don't know, something else, something not for kids! We're the Misfits. Did you think you were designing for Jem or something?" Pizzazz got angrier with being questioned. In her mind fantasy stuff like unicorns, princesses, whatever, were all to saccharine for her image of the band. She hadn't even bothered to flip through to the dragons.

"It is pretty childish, ducky," Jetta replied, dismissive.

"I worked really hard on this," Graphix forced out between clenched teeth. "And there isn't time to redo it!"

"Well I'm telling you to redo it. So redo it." Pizzazz delivered the ultimatum with utmost confidence, her patience wearing thin. 

Graphix may have gotten them a city's worth of attention but since then she'd just been hanging around the building. She hadn't had any more prize winning ideas, at least not in Pizzazz's eyes. Plus now Roxy was going AWOL more often and Pizzazz didn't even have the lounge to relax in by herself anymore when she was stressed about that sort of thing. It was becoming a bit of a headache and if Pizzazz wasn't getting something spectacular out of the deal she was absolutely not going to stand for it anymore. Plus they already had the publicity, and honestly it was the music that mattered more. She'd gone with this new designer hype but if this fantasy schtick was all Graphix had to offer…

Graphix looked towards Roxy for some support here, but Roxy was avoiding her eyes. "It is kind of, different than our image," she said, and Graphix was floored. Roxy had said she liked her art... it was how she had gotten this idea in the first place.

"Either you figure something else out or you're fired," Pizzazz said, not even bothered with the prospect.

Graphix stood up, angry and upset and not going to stand for this at all.

"You can't fire me, I QUIT," She yelled and stormed out of the lounge, livid and trying her best not to cry. She wasn't going to cry.

She tried not to think about all the times she'd spent hanging out with Roxy, going through some of her older work. She hadn't shared this kind of art with anyone in ages, and while Roxy wasn't a visual artist she was someone who seemed to enjoy it. She'd also worked her butt off when she wasn't hanging out with Roxy, isolated from practically everyone as she was holed up in the lounge working on these designs and concepts. She'd even asked Eric to workshop some stuff with her, or schedule her time with the band as the Misfits themselves seemed to be busy in recording sessions 24/7. But she'd been brushed off. "Just do whatever, I'm sure it's fine," he'd said, treating her the same as the interns.

She turned and stormed down another hallway with her head down, tears beginning to leak out, but as she didn't look where she was going she ran headfirst into someone else.

Her sketchbook flew out of her hands, paper scattering everywhere as she braced herself against the wall to keep from falling down. 

"Hey, watch where you're going," the stranger said, annoyance obvious in her tone.

"Practice what you preach," Graphix cut back and stood up straight, looking for a second at the scattered pages. Her hands twitched but she remembered that mocking look on Pizzazz's face and the mocking look from her former teachers and just turned and kept walking. Whatever, she's done with fantasy. Time to grow up.

* * *

Rapture stared after the rude girl who ran headlong into her, perplexed. She hadn't even been recognized, which was pretty strange in the Stinger’s Sound building, no matter what floor she was on. Secondly the girl hadn't even bothered to clean up after herself. Rapture looked down in disgust only for her gaze to catch on one of the loose pages. She leaned down to scoop it up and found a detailed illustration of Stormer of the Misfits riding a dragon. 

"Wow," she whispered to herself, and quickly scooped up the sketchbook and the bulk of loose pages, chasing after the stranger.

She caught up to her outside the elevator, the stranger agitated and her eyes obviously wet, even if her expression was an angry one. 

“Hey! Did you draw these?” Rapture asked, holding up the Stormer drawing and motioning to the sketchbook.

“What’s it to you?” Graphix said, arms crossed as she waited for the elevator. She just wanted to be left alone now, not hassled by a stranger.

“Well, if you did, I have a job offer,” Rapture said, dangling the offer of work out there to try and thaw this girl’s surprisingly icy shell. “Do you know who I am?”   
  
Graphix glanced sideways at the stranger and shrugged. 

Rapture blinked. “Really? You haven’t heard of the Stingers? You’re standing in the Stinger’s Sound building.” 

Graphix actually turned to face her at this point.

“Whatever, I don’t care if you’re a famous rockstar or whatever. I’m done designing for rockstars. They have no sense of grandoor.” 

“No sense of what?” Rapture asked, absolutely unable to parse Graphix’s garbled French. 

“Ugh, I don’t have time to talk to you!” She threw her arms up. ”I just want to go home and forget this ever happened. I don’t want to talk to the Misfits, or the Stingers, or anybody.” 

“Oh, you were dealing with them. Well I can promise you The Stingers absolutely will appreciate your talents. Especially designs like these. This is 100% what I’ve been looking for.”

“Like I haven’t heard that one before,” Graphix said, stepping into the elevator as it finally arrived on their floor, empty. Finally some solitude.

Or so she thought as Rapture stepped right in with her.

“Just Listen.”

So maybe it was easier to convince her than she’d admit but with Rapture insisting The Stingers would love her concepts (reworked to include them instead of the Misfits) and insisting she wanted her to start right away by the time the elevator reached the ground floor Graphix had agreed to do it “on a trial basis.” 

Rapture was ecstatic and jammed her finger into the button for the top floor which gave them a little more time to talk as the elevator ascended. 

“So, you’re sure they’ll like my stuff?” Graphix questioned, already having been burned once by inter-band conflict. 

“Definitely. Fantasy is what we  _ do.  _ Our whole ethos is drawing the audience into another world,” Rapture explained, still excitedly flipping through Graphix’s sketchbook. 

She turned the page around to an exterior of a castle wall crawling with vines. “This is incredibly detailed work. It looks like stuff you see on film productions.”   
  


“I did a little bit of work for film stuff before. But most places have in house artists and I’m freelance,” Graphix said. “I have a friend who is still in the industry though. Working in animation now.” 

“Have you ever done animation?” Rapture questioned. “We were in talks for a Saturday morning cartoon about us, but they wanted it to be so sanitized and boring, you know, kids stuff.” 

Graphix frowned, a bit perplexed, “So you don’t like kids stuff, but you like fantasy?”   
  
“Fantasy isn’t just for kids!” Rapture said simply and Graphix’s heart started to fill with a little more hope. 

The elevator dinged open. “Riot, Minx, I have someone here you need to meet.”

* * *

Jerrica smiled and waved to the teens milling about the park outside the building as she walked into the office, and they waved back just as enthusiastically.

“I’m glad you figured everything out," Joanie said, handing Jerrica her itinerary. “I was pretty worried about the angry mob on the first day, but it seems like your solution made everyone calm down.”   
  
“Thanks Joanie, but it was Aja and Raya’s idea,” Jerrica replied. They had first used Synergy to create a hologram cover for the first mural, this time of Jem and the Holograms. It had gone over pretty well, but wasn’t a long term solution as if anything interfered with her signals the hologram could go down. But Raya then suggested they announce the spot as a “Community Canvas”.

“We just make the announcement that we want to feature a local artist every week, and every week we paint over and a new artist draws something,” she had said. “That way we can actually get rid of the old mural and no one will be mad about it.” 

It went over well and now that it had been a few weeks, the park outside the building had gotten livelier but in a good way. No more angry mobs. 

“I’m glad it all worked out in the end. And now we can feature local artists. Shana said we should look into bringing some on for promotional stuff too. There’s a lot of talented kids in this city,” Jerrica mused as she made it to her office. 

“I guess the Misfits can sometimes do some good after all," Joanie replied. 

“By accident, maybe," Jerrica replied, amused. 

At that very moment Pizzazz was fuming. “What do you mean our release is delayed?” she roared at Eric.

“Pizzazz, you fired your concept designer, I didn’t have anyone else assigned to your project, and now The Stingers are doing their own big promotional push. They pulled everyone we have in on their project,” Eric explained.

“They don’t need everyone!”   
  
Pizzazz stormed out of the room and straight up to the top floor, hoping Riot would have someone to spare if he knew they needed to get their album out on time only to run right into-

“Graphix! What are you doing here?” she asked, incredulous.

“Oh, hi,” Graphix said, voice decidedly unenthused, “I’m working for The Stingers now.”   
  
“Oh, are you part of the new intern crew that they have all hands on deck right now," Pizzazz said dismissively.

“No, actually I’m…”

“I don’t have time to talk, I need to speak to Riot and get him to assign someone to our project now that you’ve left us in the lurch,” Pizzazz said, looking around and not seeing the leader of The Stingers anywhere. “If he isn’t here, who is in charge?” 

“That’d be Graphix,” said Rapture, appearing from around a corner and looping her arm through Graphix’s own, “Our new amazing promotional manager and lead concept designer.” 

“What… you?” Pizzazz was already fuming, unable to figure out how to go back on her earlier rudeness. 

“Me.” Graphx smiled, and blushed a bit over Rapture calling her amazing. 

“So, you need to borrow one of the interns?” Graphix asked.

“...Yeah," Pizzazz replied. Keeping her answers short to not say anything she’d regret in this situation.

“I’m sure we can spare someone…” Graphix kept smiling, “We are colleagues after all…” 

“Great, we need someone right away for-” Pizzazz began.

“Hang on, I think we need a little something else from you first,” Rapture cut her off, “I heard you were pretty rude to our Lead Designer.”

“So what do you want, an apology?” Pizzazz asked, crossing her arms over her chest. 

“I think we can do better than that.” 

Graphix got the photo of the Misfits dressed up as sugar plum fairies for The Stingers “For Fantasy Promotional Parade” framed to display prominently in her new office. 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Hey, This is my gift for the Jem Holiday Exchange for Bio. You said any of the lesser used characters and mentioned Graphix by name so I went a little wild with it. There's some mild hurt comfort but I think I definitely did get "Outrageous Shenanigans" down. Hope you like it. Happy Holidays.
> 
> \---
> 
> This story is part of the [LLF Comment Project](https://longlivefeedback.tumblr.com/llfcommentproject), which was created to improve communication between readers and authors. This author invites and appreciates feedback, including:
> 
>   * Short comments
>   * Long comments
>   * Questions
>   * “<3” as extra kudos
>   * Reader-reader interaction
> 



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